Perfect Portrayal of Magic, Hope Through the character of Puck, A Midsummer Night's Dream resonsates with his energy

As Karl Baumann sits in the large lobby of the N.C. Shakespeare Festival's rehearsal space, he contains himself with difficulty. Making a point about the quick energy of his character, Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Baumann bounds out of his chair, leans forward from his waist and instantly thrusts out his arms, springs to his left, again to his right, a veritable swoosh of lightning-like force.

The Shakespeare Festival's production of Midsummer opened last night in High Point.

Puck is a puzzle for any director of A Midsummer Night's Dream, said Pedro Silva, the festival's managing and artistic director, thinks he has solved the puzzle with Baumann.

"The challenging question for every director of this play is how do you create Puck as a character with supernatural powers," Silva said.

Shakespeare certainly believed that through Puck, love could be ignited and lives turned around. A fool's head could be changed into that of a donkey, and love potions could recast destinies.

The play moves between worlds of lovers: the rulers of the earthly land, Duke Theseus and Hippolyta; the rulers of fairyland, King Oberon and Queen Titania. Hermia and Helena and their loves get lost in the forest inhabited by Puck and his cohorts. Mischief ensues, and Puck is central to our believing that, one, magic is possible and, two, love is worth the trouble.

Silva is confident that Puck, as he has for centuries, will delight audiences and that A Midsummer Night's Dream will revive our belief in hope. Given tough economic times, it is a good bet and reason enough for this being the festival's only offering of the season, Silva said.

Practicing Puck

Puck may be the perfect entity to remind us of magic, especially in the hands of Baumann, who has been a regular performer with Cirque du Soleil since the early '90s. In this version of Midsummer, he reprises his role as Puck -- for the second time in a N.C. Shakespeare Festival production (the first time was in 2003), and for the fourth time with director Steve Umberger.

"One of the things we continue to explore, certainly in this production, is the intense physicality of the character, because we have in Karl an actor who has these very unique acrobatic and gymnastic abilities," Silva said.

Mirth and the supernatural are the realms in which love can frolic and find its feet in Shakespeare's comedy, and Baumann, himself looking very much like a sprite -- a very athletic sprite -- easily engages us in the capers he unleashes in the play.

Speaking roles --and Shakespeare -- are recent undertakings for Baumann, who usually relies on dance, mime and physicality in his performances. Currently, he is a regular performer in Cirque's Delirium in Las Vegas, where he lives.

Born in Salzburg, Austria, Baumann came to the U.S. to study at Juilliard in 1986. "I wanted to find more quality in education in dance which didn't exist in Austria."

Soon after, he joined the dance company, MOMIX, founded by Moses Pendleton, who is also one of the founders of Pilobolus. Within a few years, Baumann began touring with Cirque du Soleil. He pointed out that although he doesn't perform extreme gymnastic feats in Cirque -- "some (of the performers) have competed in the Olympics" -- it is a rigorous form of theater. The cast performs seven to 10 shows a week. "You get Monday off for laundry," he said. "It is not for the fainthearted."

One of the joys of doing Midsummer, Baumann said, is getting to be in a place such as North Carolina, where there are fewer distractions. He also gets to enjoy speaking in a role and uncovering the beauty of Shakespeare's language. "I'm adding words to the movements. This is new. I had to learn the Shakespearian language like a person who must sing opera. The more I spoke it, the more I understood the beauty of the language."

The Natural

Puck, it seems, is a natural for Baumann, Umberger said. "The story is magic. It's about doing things you could never do in real life."

And, as if by magic, the two men met in a Starbucks in Charlotte in 2002. Umberger, who lives there, had been wondering about new ways to work with Puck, and Baumann ambled into the Starbucks while on tour with Cirque's production of Quidam. He was wearing a Cirque shirt, and Umberger spotted him. Puck became a very physical and reliable way for Umberger to tell Shakespeare's tale.

"I'm a bit of a sprite myself," Baumann said. "I love Puck. He's a light sprite. When he plays with people, he's not hurting them. The lightness is where I can use my knowledge of movement with the jumps and turns that have to be very precise -- he's here, he's there, he's elusive, and in part of the play, he's invisible."

Baumann bounds out of his chair. "Like this," he says with a smile.

And Puck, Shakespeare's beloved sprite, is unleashed yet again.

Baumann's eyes crinkle at the edges. "Magic is hope," he said. "We never know what's around the corner. Hope is that better place that we haven't seen yet."

The N.C. Shakespeare Festival will present A Midsummer Night's Dream at 8 p.m. Friday and Oct. 2-3; 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Oct. 1; and at 2 p.m. today, next Sunday and Oct. 4, at the High Point Theatre, 220 E. Commerce Ave., High Point. Tickets for most shows are $31, $23 for students and seniors. Call 887-3001.